The Best Episodes of “Behind the Music”

VH1’s Behind the Music was a staple program on music television stations everywhere in the mid-1990’s and early 2000’s.

I guess it’s still going on now, but I don’t have cable. Also, music television is pretty much dead in Canada so not quite sure where I would catch it if I wanted to….

Anyways, I was just a kid when Behind the Music was at its peak, and most of the episodes I remember catching were about the time’s more contemporary artists. For instance, I remember watching one about Missy Elliot, Christina Aguilera and TLC . . . you get the idea.

What I didn’t know at the time was that they did episodes on a lot of classic rock bands as well. I recently discovered this when I went down a YouTube rabbit hole looking up videos of Fleetwood Mac.

A lot of older episodes of Behind the Music can be watched there. Sure, the show is by no means a comprehensive biography of the acts, but I think in most cases, they give a really good an entertaining overview of a band or artist’s career.

Here are my favourite episodes of Behind The Music that I have watched so far:

1. The Monkees

The story of a band that wasn’t really a band but that became a band that was at one point outselling both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the 1960’s. The Monkees get a lot of flack, but this episode really gives a look at what went down.

2. Bad Company

I’ll be honest, I didn’t know the supergroup origins of Bad Company until I watched this. Of course one could learn this from a simple trip to Wikipedia, but Bad Company has been a band that I yet to really dig into in terms of their backstory, history and trivia. This is a great overview of one of the most popular rock ‘n’ roll bands of the 70’s. In many ways, their story is the classic rock ‘n’ roll journey.

3. Thin Lizzy

This one was super fascinating and also quite sad. Thin Lizzy and its frontman Phil Lynott were really the first big rock stars our of Ireland and their journey wasn’t easy, especially when it came to creating a solid standing in the United States. That on top of the expected excess and addiction, this episode will have you going “Fuck yeah!” to tears by the end. It was the interviews with Phil’s mom that did it for me.

4. Fleetwood Mac

Because, obviously.

5 Lynyrd Skynyrd

I’m not crying. YOU’RE CRYING!!

What are some of your favourite episodes of Behind the Music? Let me know in the comments!

Cherise is the co-host of the Strange Grooves podcast. She started collecting vinyl back in high school, but her love of classic rock and AM Radio hits goes back long before that. When she’s not listening to music, Cherise is the Associate Editor of Huddle Today, an online business publication that covers Atlantic Canada. She’s previously worked for CBC New Brunswick, The Canadian Press and the Telegraph-Journal, among other great publications.